Livingston boss David Martindale bemoans refereeing decisions but admits Celtic were worthy winners

Livingston boss David Martindale bemoaned two decisions from referee Nick Walsh that led to Celtic goals in their 3-1 loss to the Hoops this afternoon - but admitted the visitors were deserved winners.

Celtic opened the scoring on 17 minutes when a corner-kick that shouldn’t have been given eventually resulted in Daizen Maeda heading home from close range just two minutes after Walsh had awarded the visitors a debatable penalty that Callum McGregor slammed against the post.

The Hoops doubled their lead less than a minute into the second half when Nicky Devlin diverted an Anthony Ralston cross into his own net.

But Martindale insists there was a handball on Aussie midfielder Tom Rogic in the build-up.

Celtic would net a third shortly after through James Forrest with a sweet left-foot drive across goal while Andrew Shinnie kept things interesting when he bundled home for the hosts just before the hour mark.

Ange Postecoglou’s side, though, played some terrific stuff as they broke their Tony Macaroni Arena hoodoo having failed to win their previous five encounters and Martindale conceded the Hoops were the better side.

He commented: “I don’t think we deserved a lot more from the game, but two big decisions went against us, which led to two goals. That’s the disappointing aspect.

“The first one was a blatant bye-kick. Bobby (Madden, fourth official) and the linesman were telling Nick it was a bye-kick but you still have to defend the corner a lot better than we did.

“For the second, there is a handball by Rogic in the middle of the park. Nick is standing watching it and we don’t get that.

“Again, we still have to defend better, so you find yourself 2-0 down. I don’t think these decisions changed the result, but they changed